Eye Popping Cartoons on Cereal Boxes Lure Your Kids

A study reveals that the cartoon characters on cereal boxes are normally designed to attract the attention of kids. The eyes of the cartoons are shifted 9.6 degrees down to make eye contact with a child standing in the cereal aisle. The reason to have those large, googly eyes is not just aesthetic but to attract young customers. The researchers found that consumers trust a brand 16% more when the characters on the box look them straight in their eye.

The study done by Cornell University explains how when showing two different versions of a box of Trix to participants, one box had the rabbit spokes character looking downwards and another one that had the rabbit seeing straight out, the kids preferred the former. Hence, you can see why people on adult cereals look straight ahead, while cartoon of cats, tigers, frogs and humans on kids cereals are always looking downwards.

The research was conducted by Cornell Food and Brand Lab Researchers Aner Tal and Brian Wansink, who assessed 85 different characters at 10 grocery stores in New York and Connecticut. They called this project as “Cereal Box Psychology”. One of the researchers Aner Tal, said that after studying more than 80 breakfast spokes-characters, they found that kids’ cereals are positioned at about 23 inches off the floor and adult’s cereals are positioned at about 48 inches off of the floor.

Earlier, cereal companies relied a great deal on advertising on television programs aiming young children. But now they are directly aiming the kids who accompany their parents to the shopping malls. The researchers concluded with two findings, one that parents should think about not taking their children to shop for cereals. Secondly, manufacturers of healthier cereals might consider adding a character looking downwards to their box to attract younger consumers.